weekend review: get comfortable

Figure 1. Pepperoni, onion, and olive pizza.

Figure 2. Saturday night's comfy pizza dinner: pepperoni, onion, and olive pizza with a spinach salad.

Figure 3. In preparation: collard greens.

 Figure 4. Sunday night's dinner, a classic Southern comfort combination: Mom's turkey meatloaf (served with gobs of un-pictured ketchup), collard greens, and a baked sweet potato with cinnamon and spray butter.

Mom's Turkey Meatloaf

In my opinion, the perfect meatloaf.

1/2 cup salsa

1 1/2 pounds ground skinless turkey breast

3/4 cups oats

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 egg white

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine turkey, oats, onion, basil, garlic powder, pepper, and egg white; mix well. Add 1/2 cup salsa and mix well. Spoon mixture into un-greased 8 x 4 loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until well browned and firm. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with ketchup.

Collard Greens 

I didn't grow up with this Southern staple, but M did. This recipe is from M's sister-in-law C. It is a bit vague, but I just went with it and they tasted perfect. I am a collard convert for sure. At the end of cooking, I added a handful of golden raisins for extra sweetness.

Halve and thinly slice 1 onion. Saute in olive oil. Remove stems and chop collards.

After about 3 minutes (collards will start to wilt/braise), add about 1/8 inch veggie or chicken stock, 2 T Dale's seasoning, 2T apple cider vinegar, and 2T brown sugar.

Turn to low, stir well and put lid partially on pot. Simmer for about 30 minutes, adding stock when it gets too dry.